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Buckeye Lake can rise, but will it?

A scale at the Buckeye Lake dam spillway indicates water levels are over two feet below previous waterlines. ODNR has adjusted the spillway to allow the water lever to climb another two feet.(Photo: Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate)Buy Photo

NEWARK - Within a week of the state's announcement that it would allow the water level to rise at Buckeye Lake, there is no foreseeable increase in the lake's level.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources closed the gates May 26, which would allow the water level to rise to 5 feet, just a foot below summer pool. However, officials did say that the lake would have to be filled naturally from rainfall.

And despite Buckeye Lake getting a quarter of an inch of rain since then, the lake has dropped nearly half an inch.

According to the National Weather Service, the lake area is expected to receive less than 4 inches of rain in June.

"We're looking at a few months in terms of average rainfall to get to the level the state will allow," National Weather Service hydrologist Julie Reed said. "But evaporation is at its peak now, so it will take a significant amount of rain to make a difference."

In response to the low level, residents have started the Fill Buckeye Lake Bucket Challenge, refilling the lake one bucket of water at a time.

Sally Oldham, a resident in Thornville, said the participants realize they don't have enough water or buckets to fill the lake, but this challenge is a way to raise community members' spirits.

"People in this area have been depressed," she said. "We could sit outside and wave at people on boats as they passed through the canals, but it's just sad to look out and see weeds growing there instead."

Oldham said most people don't realize there are just two ways to get water into the lake: capitalize on the melting winter snows or the spring rains.

"The spring rains are over, and there was hardly any snow this year. Even if there was, the gates were open and that water was released," she said. "People heard the state said they'd (allow) 2 feet in the lake, but they don't realize it isn't instantaneous."

Currently, the lake is at 3 feet, and Reed said the level really depends on when and where the rainfall happens.

"Summertime precipitation is not the same as wintertime," she said. "It can rain a lot in one town and be completely dry in another."

Matt Eiselstein, ODNR spokesman, said he didn't think the residents participating in the bucket challenge were doing anything wrong.

He added the Sellers Point Gate has been shut and the stop logs have been installed at the AMIL Gate spillway.

"People might see some water leaking through the logs, but that only amounts to three ten-thousands of one percent of the lake's water," he said. "It's a minuscule amount and doesn't affect the lake at all."